# What is your ongoing opinion of the Affordable Care Act? (Title Edited) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 17, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561 "2013-01-17T23:21:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 149
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2962 "2014-09-27T18:58:13Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > There’s this little thing called persuasion. You might have heard about it. It’s what your side will need to do if it ever wants a governing liberal majority. Really? Do please tell us more. How does one persuade someone who does not even know how to say something other than “Go fuck yourself”, often even with the N-word appended? What approach would you suggest that \*would \*get through to the people whose support you offer unreservedly? You don’t negotiate with terrorists, so I’ve heard said. ---
**Author:** ![2ManyTacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/3da27b/32.png) [@2ManyTacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ManyTacos)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2963 "2014-09-30T22:54:14Z")
A second judge has ruled against the administration in this nonsense subsidy argument. Lo & behold, he’s a [GOP appointee from Oklahoma.](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/judge-rules-against-white-house-on-affordable-care-act-111474.html?hp=l1) Interesting. ---
**Author:** ![2ManyTacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/3da27b/32.png) [@2ManyTacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ManyTacos)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2964 "2014-10-11T02:57:02Z")
Hey, you guys remember how the ACA was an epic “fuck you” to the younger generation, and how 20-somethings were going to ignore expanded health insurance in record numbers to trigger an insurance industry “death spiral?” Well, as with literally EVERY SINGLE anti-ACA prediction, this one has been certifiably proven to be bullshit. [Young adults’ uninsurance rate plummets to 21 percent, the steepest decline of ANY age group since the ACA went live.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/09/obamacare-young-adults_n_5961602.html) ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2965 "2014-10-11T03:07:01Z")
Man, no wonder the Republicans fought so hard against it. Their worst fears are being realized – _the ACA is really working, and really working well_. In time this will be reflected in the polling. They really screwed up labeling it ‘Obamacare’. Obama’s going to be the Democratic Reagan for a generation – maybe longer, considering how young he is. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2966 "2014-10-11T03:14:40Z")
In time. LOL. First you have to weather the next round of cancellations. But don’t worry, after that setback, popularity for ACA is right around the corner! ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2967 "2014-10-11T03:20:39Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > In time. LOL. First you have to weather the next round of cancellations. But don’t worry, after that setback, popularity for ACA is right around the corner! Grasp at any straws you can. The ACA is not going away, and every year is going to see the numbers get better and better, in general. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2968 "2014-10-11T03:22:02Z")
Let’s see what happens when the Democrats fix it first. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2969 "2014-10-11T07:34:01Z")
You’ve also still got to figure out how to bail out the insurance companies, who have apparently been undercharging. BUt really, there won’t be a bailout, so premiums will very soon start to represent the actual cost of covering this risk pool. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAlecCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SmartAlecCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlecCat)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2970 "2014-10-11T12:13:21Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > You’ve also still got to figure out how to bail out the insurance companies, who have apparently been undercharging. > > BUt really, there won’t be a bailout, so premiums will very soon start to represent the actual cost of covering this risk pool. Um, yeah… [Health Insurers Set To Give Out More Obamacare Refunds](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/24/health-insurance-rebates_n_5614570.html) > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON – An obscure Obamacare feature may net health insurance customers $332 million this year. > > That’s the total insurance companies will have to give back to customers this year under an Affordable Care Act provision designed to keep companies from overcharging consumers, the Department of Health and Human Services announced on Thursday. Including this year, consumers will have recovered a total of $1.9 billion from insurance companies since the rule took effect in 2011, according to the department. > > Under President Barack Obama’s signature health care reform law, insurance companies must spend at least 80 percent of the premiums they collect on actual medical care, rather than on overhead and profit. They are required to give rebates to consumers, or to their employers in the case of job-based insurance, if they fail to meet that standard. Close to 7 million people are due refunds by Aug. 1, with an average of $80, according to a report issued by the department. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2971 "2014-10-11T12:18:21Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > You’ve also still got to figure out how to bail out the insurance companies, who have apparently been undercharging. > > BUt really, there won’t be a bailout, so premiums will very soon start to represent the actual cost of covering this risk pool. [Not much of an increase](http://www.cnbc.com/id/102055144): > [@](#): > > Six states and the District of Columbia already issued approved rates for individual insurance plans in 2015, and the average premium is rising just 2.5 percent, PricewaterhouseCoopers found in its updated report. These plans go on sale Nov. 15. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2972 "2014-10-11T13:02:23Z")
The insurers are losing money. Thus my argument that they are undercharging. But since we have two posters on record as saying they are doing so well, let’s all agree to repeal the risk corridors. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAlecCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SmartAlecCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlecCat)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2973 "2014-10-11T13:11:48Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > The insurers are losing money. Thus my argument that they are undercharging. > > But since we have two posters on record as saying they are doing so well, let’s all agree to repeal the risk corridors. Some insurers set premiums too high and have to rebate, others set them too low and need to raise them a bit. The risk corridors dampen the impact of either extreme (and also provide incentive to participate in the open exchanges). Why do you think they should be repealed? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2974 "2014-10-11T13:23:49Z")
The rebates are unrelated to whether or not a company is charging correctly for risk. A company can simultaneously be undercharging yet spending too much on overhead, so they’d be losing money and having to pay rebates. In any case, if all or most of the insurers are losing money, it will take Congressional action to approve a bailout. Which won’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![2ManyTacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/3da27b/32.png) [@2ManyTacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ManyTacos)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2975 "2014-10-11T14:28:06Z")
You mean the _legal_ risk corridors that were a part of the law ITSELF? While we’re at it, let’s go ahead and repeal the _permanent_ risk corridors in Medicare Part D. In all seriousness, I don’t understand the sudden outrage over the risk corridor program AT ALL. I mean, damn, it isn’t as if they appeared overnight out of nowhere; no, literally EVERYBODY has known about them for the entire four years of the ACA’s existence, and yet only now have they blossomed into a GOP socialist nightmare. It’s all horse shit. And for crying out loud, they’re set to expire in a couple of years anyway, so if they’re really that awful, just bite your fuckin’ tongue & bear with it until Obama leaves office. But let’s not kid ourselves. The GOP has no damn problem with the risk corridors that exist in fucking PERPETUITY in Medicare Part D, so all of this faux outrage is precisely that. Stupid bullshit hypocritical nonsense that isn’t going anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2976 "2014-10-11T15:06:24Z")
I’m sure the Republican alternative bill will fix that. Right, **adaher**? ---
**Author:** ![2ManyTacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/3da27b/32.png) [@2ManyTacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ManyTacos)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2977 "2014-10-11T15:24:25Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > I’m sure the Republican alternative bill will fix that. Right, **adaher**? I think that we can all agree by this point - or at least we _should_ be in agreement by now - that the GOP as an _institution_ does not actually **do** health care policy. The only times when they _pretend_ to do it are when they come up with hypothetical policy “alternatives” (which, mind you, will only EVER exist as concepts - the party would never actually enact any of these policies as law) as a mechanism to criticize or altogether stop DEMOCRATS from _actually_ doing health care policy. ---
**Author:** ![2ManyTacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/3da27b/32.png) [@2ManyTacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ManyTacos)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2978 "2014-10-11T15:29:55Z")
While I’m at it, I’d like to introduce you guys to the [2017 Project.](http://2017project.org/) It’s stupid function and purpose is plainly evident by its title, but if you’re in the mood for a fair bit of shits & giggles, feel free to peruse the website. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2979 "2014-10-12T03:21:43Z")
> [@2ManyTacos](#): > > I think that we can all agree by this point - or at least we _should_ be in agreement by now - that the GOP as an _institution_ does not actually **do** health care policy. The only times when they _pretend_ to do it are when they come up with hypothetical policy “alternatives” (which, mind you, will only EVER exist as concepts - the party would never actually enact any of these policies as law) as a mechanism to criticize or altogether stop DEMOCRATS from _actually_ doing health care policy. Where do you think the last two big expansions of health care before ACA came from? The Republicans. Medicare Part D and SCHIP both came out of a Republican Congress. And in Virginia, Ed Gillespie is shaking up that Senate race by rolling out his own replacement proposal: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/ed-gillespie-unveils-alternative-to-affordable-care-act/2014/10/10/8b0d9150-50a4-11e4-babe-e91da079cb8a\_story.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/ed-gillespie-unveils-alternative-to-affordable-care-act/2014/10/10/8b0d9150-50a4-11e4-babe-e91da079cb8a_story.html) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2980 "2014-10-12T14:58:25Z")
The prediction has already been made that the RNC, and therefore **adaher** , will be claiming ACA as their own by the next presidential election. Looks like it’s happening ahead of schedule. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561/2981 "2014-10-15T15:53:51Z")
[Some fresh numbers from PwC](http://www.pwc.com/us/en/health-industries/health-research-institute/aca-state-exchanges.jhtml): > [@](#): > > Among the six states and DC with final rate announcements, the average premium (across metal tiers and ages) is about $328, and the average premium increase from 2014 is 2.6%. By contrast, the average premium increase across all reporting states is 5.9% and the average premium is $382. But … but … the free market is \*always \*more efficient than the government, isn’t it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561.md?page=148) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-ongoing-opinion-of-the-affordable-care-act-title-edited/647561.md?page=150)